Beautiful Bounty(97)
“Um,” her mind flew back to Nikko. “I guess. But Nikko. I need to talk to him. I’d like to stay here locally for a while at least while he recovers,” she looked at her grandparents her eyes pleading for them to understand. Her grandmother scowled. Her grandfather winked.
“Okay, well don’t upset Grams. You know how she gets. Break it to her easily. Maybe ask them to stay in the hotel with you until Nikko gets out?” she whispered softly.
“Good idea,” she breathed. “Love you Mom,” she said before hanging up.
“Love you too, sweet heart. Call me every day and keep me posted.”
“I will.” And with that they both hung up.
***
Lou sat by Jay on the sofa. Relief swept through her for her daughter. She was glad this nightmare was behind her, behind all of them, yet she felt guilty not being there even though her doctor advised her not to fly right now.
Jay sensed her disappointment. “She’ll come home.” He pulled his wife onto his lap and patted her stomach, his baby inside this remarkable woman.
“But where is home?” she asked sadly, thinking of what the future might hold for her head strong daughter.
“She’s sweet on Nikko. More than sweet. She’ll come here,” he stated with confidence and gently kissed his wife’s lips. He needed to distract her. Soon she was only thinking about those lips.
There was a soft knock on Ronnie’s hospital room door, and her eyes fluttered open. Despite her nerves, she managed to doze off. Her grandparents left to get two rooms together at the hotel for when she was released tomorrow. They also wanted to freshen up and grab a quick bite to eat before coming back for evening visiting hours. Her grandfather also promised to bring her something back that was better than the hospital food.
She glanced at the clock. It was only six-thirty.
“Come in,” she called out groggily sitting up a bit, but stopped short when the door began to open and she heard a male voice in the hall.
“Get out of the way, Nurse Daniels,” she heard Gio announce. “I’ve got Dr. White’s permission right here.”
“But orderlies should be doing this,” she heard the nervous nurse announce.
“My brother was going to get out of bed and do this himself. He wasn’t waiting two hours for the orderlies.”
Ronnie saw the foot of a bed being pushed through the door.
“Well, let me help you then,” the Nurse sighed loudly, knowing she wasn’t getting this large man to stop what he was doing. “Give me that pole.”
She heard Gio’s rumble of laughter at the nurse’s command. She’d already picked up on the fact that everything turned into a sexual innuendo with this man.
“Yes ma’am. I mean Nurse Daniels,” he teased, answering her with just the right amount of sexual undertones. “Nice uniform by the way,” he added at the pretty lady with the mop of sandy hair framing her oval face. She blushed.
The bed was almost entirely through the doorway and Ronnie could make out a form upon it. Her heart beat faster.
“What’s going on?” she asked sitting up straighter in her bed.
“Ask him,” the nurse announced, revealing her name plate that stated she was Lacy Daniels. It was the same nurse who had come in earlier to give her some medication.
Gio peered around the corner, face tight with concentration. He finally answered her question. “Baby brother didn’t want the private room. He wanted a roomie, but he passed out cold again on the way here.”
“That’s Nikko?” Ronnie sat up straight.
“Stay in bed,” the nurse ordered when it looked like this patient, too, was going to get tangled up in this mess.
Ronnie sat back down. Her heart raced. Nikko asked to be here. In this room with her. She had been so worried, but his first thoughts when waking had been to be with her.
With one more push, Gio had the bed all the way in. He bumped it against the door frame, and jostled Nikko who groaned in his sleep.
“Be careful with him,” Ronnie cautioned, wincing for Nikko. She examined him more closely as Gio moved his brother’s bed over to position it next to hers.
“Geesh, that’s the thanks I get for all this trouble,” he teased.
“Oh, sorry,” Ronnie giggled softly. Obviously Gio letting him come here, meant he didn’t hate her. “Where are your brothers?” she asked. “Did they know you were moving him?”
The nurse hastily plugged all the equipment back in. When Gio looked back up from watching the cute nurse’s derriere, he saw the fear in Ronnie’s eyes. He decided to put her mind at ease. His brothers had been too anxious about Nikko to pop in on her. They had also been answering questions from Detective Alexander and other officials while he had been running around doing all the drudge work. He may have to reward himself, he thought wryly, checking out the cute nurse one more time.